Revival of Longsjo race eyed

The nephew of Arthur Longsjo plans to revive the Longsjo Classic next year.

Jason Longsjo said he is forming a nonprofit organization that will assume control of the bike race.

“It’s time for the Longsjo family to get back into the race. Others have been doing an amazing job over the years, but the family needs to get back in the race,” Longsjo said.

The 52nd Longsjo Classic was canceled this year less than three weeks before it was scheduled to start at the end of June. The cancellation was blamed on a lack of ridership.

This season’s race was an attempted resurrection after two years of problems. Financial difficulties forced the prestigious four-day stage race to cut back to a one-day event, then the race was canceled last year after a fire in the Johnsonia Building in downtown Fitchburg.

Longsjo said the family would like the tradition of the long-running bike race to continue.

“I want to keep the memory of my uncle alive. I’ve grown up with the stories (of Arthur Longjso) and that’s been a factor in my life. And continuing his legacy is very important to me,” Longsjo said.

The race was first held in 1960 in memory of Arthur Longsjo, an Olympic speed skater and cyclist from Fitchburg who died in a car accident in 1958. Longsjo, the first person to compete in the summer and winter Olympics in the same year (1956), was 26 when the car he was in crashed into a utility pole in Vermont when he was on his way home after winning a 170-mile, one-day Quebec-to-Montreal bike race.

The tentative plans for next year include three days of racing in June. There would be a twilight criterium in Leominster on Friday, June 28; a criterium in downtown Worcester on Saturday, June 29; and the traditional criterium in downtown Fitchburg on Sunday, June 30. The event also would include a timed challenge ride, or gran fondo, on Saturday that would probably finish in Worcester before the crit racing downtown.

“Absolutely, I think we can pull it off,” Longsjo said. “I think there will be some challenges to come with it, but because of the race and the name associated with it, I think we can do it. There will be some new faces and I think that will make a difference.”

Longsjo has teamed up with Dieter Drake to manage the bike race. Drake, a professional promoter who runs the Great American Cycling Series, said the format of three crits, which are bicycle races on a course of about a mile with competitors riding many laps, would be great for spectators, racers, sponsors and local businesses.

“It’s a home run for everyone,” he said.

Longsjo and Drake plan to meet with communities involved in the next month and try to finalize plans.

“I can bring in momentum from the outside but there has to be local enthusiasm and support. And I think it is there,” Drake said.

Drake, based in Cambridge, N.Y., is no stranger to the Longsjo race. Drake, who has brought his junior squad, Farm Team Cycling, to compete in the race in previous years, had been asked to help with his professional staff to manage the road race stage and its full road closure that had been planned to start in Worcester this year. He participated in some of the meetings with area community officials.

“Fitchburg is great. They really care about it. … Leominster was really interested. And Worcester was passionate about the race. They were really behind it,” Drake said.

Plans had been for the Longsjo event this year to return to the four-day stage race, with three new courses that included a twilight criterium in Leominster, a hill climb at Mount Wachusett and a road race starting in Worcester for some categories, as well as the traditional criterium in Fitchburg as the final stage.

This year’s race cancellation was blamed on a lack of riders, but Drake believes the racers would have come this year if it had not been canceled and will come to future Longsjo races.

Drake’s track record has been very successful. The Tour of Battenkill, which is part of the Great American Cycling Series, started in 2005 with 200 riders and has grown to about 3,000 competitors for the one-day race. The Tour of the Catskills, a three-day stage race held earlier this month that is also part of that series, attracted 800 racers and is considered the largest stage race in the country.

To improve ridership at the Longsjo, Drake and Longsjo plan to include Category 5 racers. The race has included Pro Cat 1 to Cat 4 racers but excluded Cat 5 for many years.

“It’s a vital part of any event. It would be unwise to exclude Cat 5 racers,” Drake said, pointing out that the Tour of the Battenkill had about 650 Cat 5 racers this year.

Drake also expects the challenge ride, which will be one of Art Longsjo’s training routes, to attract many riders. He said he was amazed when he attended the Boston Mayor’s Cup race last year and a similar type of ride there attracted more than 10,000 cyclists.

“Bringing that element in is really, really important,” Drake said.

Drake said getting the race back on one of the national calendars is also important. He said he submitted applications for the three criteriums, which would be called an omnium as a multi-crit race, for inclusion on the National Criterium Calendar as well as USA Crits Championship Series.

Drake said he received a lukewarm response from USA Cycling, which runs the NCC, because the race has not been held since 2010. However, he is confident the race will be placed on one of the two calendars.

“Either way, I think there is an opportunity to bring the name back to prominence again,” Drake said.

“Jason has a real passion to bring it back. With that passion it will be back on the calendar next year,” he said.

In addition, Drake said it is possible the Longsjo could be part of the Great American Cycling Series, but there are a lot of details to work out.

Longsjo, a resident of American Fork, Utah, said he recently attended the Tour of Utah and saw many spectators turn out for the event.

“It’s inspired me to make the race come back and be that again,” Longsjo said. “When I was little, the streets of Fitchburg were packed four-deep. And that’s what we’d like to bring back.”

Longsjo, the son of Tom Longsjo, who is the brother of Art, said his family fully supports the effort.

The race has had an illustrious past and is considered one of the oldest bike races in the country.

The first race was organized by Guy Morin, a cycling teammate of Art Longsjo, along with Art’s widow, Terry, and other local people. Morin won the first race.

The U.S. Cycling Federation renamed the race as a classic in 1980. In the early 1990s, the event became a four-day stage race, with a time trial, circuit race, road race and criterium. Over the years, the race has included cycling legends such as seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, Hall-of-Famer Davis Phinney, Connie Carpenter, Tyler Hamilton, Louis Garneau and Frank and Mark McCormack.